A beautiful sunny, bright day on this Thursday in the Valley. Clyde and I have had a couple of nice walks and went for a drive. Jo and I have been binge watching The Good Wife and we're now into the final season. Last night we caught up on Foundation, finishing off Season 2. Excellent, if somewhat confusing, series.
I finished one book this morning, a graphic adaptation of a novel I'd enjoyed a few years back. I'll provide the review, plus the synopsis of my next book and also the synopses of a couple of new books that just arrived.
Just Completed
"I read Cormac McCarthy's The Road back in 2010 and 'enjoyed' it quite a bit. Recently I saw a graphic novel adaptation, The Road: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Manu Larcenet so thought I'd give it a try. It was excellent. It portrayed the starkness, the darkness so clearly.
The story follows a father and his son as they travel through the ruins of America trying to reach the coast. Everything is covered in ash and grime. All is in ruins and the US is devastated. They take to the roads but have to constantly try to avoid roving gangs who kill anyone they meet, even eating them. It's a terrifying world and the father continues to try and protect his young son from the evil. They have little to no food and spend their time scrounging in ruins of buildings to find any scraps of food and water and anything useful. The father keeps the boy from seeing the dead bodies as much as possible. He wants there to be some hope left.
It's getting colder as winter approaches so they head south. They do meet people along the way. At some times they must run and hide. They lose their belongings at times. They meet individuals and the boy persuades his father to help as much as they can. They find some underground hiding places; one not so good, one where they are able to rest for a few days. The father has one revolver with three bullets. If things get so bad, he plans to use them to protect the boy from being alone. The father is sick but keeps moving along.
It's a dark, depressing story, 'beautifully' recreated in this graphic novel and respectfully follows the tone of the original story. For all of the evil left in the world, there is still some hope.... If you've never read the book, read it first, then read the graphic novel. (4.0 stars)"
Currently Reading
"What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired another self―a double who was almost you and yet not you at all? What if that double shared many of your preoccupations but, in a twisted, upside-down way, furthered the very causes you’d devoted your life to fighting against?
Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience―she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who. Destabilized, she lost her bearings, until she began to understand the experience as one manifestation of a strangeness many of us have come to know but struggle to define: AI-generated text is blurring the line between genuine and spurious communication; New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers are scrambling familiar political allegiances of left and right; and liberal democracies are teetering on the edge of absurdist authoritarianism, even as the oceans rise. Under such conditions, reality itself seems to have become unmoored. Is there a cure for our moment of collective vertigo?Naomi Klein is one of our most trenchant and influential social critics, an essential analyst of what branding, austerity, and climate profiteering have done to our societies and souls. Here she turns her gaze inward to our psychic landscapes, and outward to the possibilities for building hope amid intersecting economic, medical, and political crises. With the assistance of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks, among other accomplices, Klein uses wry humor and a keen sense of the ridiculous to face the strange doubles that haunt us―and that have come to feel as intimate and proximate as a warped reflection in the mirror.
Combining comic memoir with chilling reportage and cobweb-clearing analysis, Klein seeks to smash that mirror and chart a path beyond despair. Doppelganger What do we neglect as we polish and perfect our digital reflections? Is it possible to dispose of our doubles and overcome the pathologies of a culture of multiplication? Can we create a politics of collective care and undertake a true reckoning with historical crimes? The result is a revelatory treatment of the way many of us think and feel now―and an intellectual adventure story for our times."
New Books
(Two graphic novels arrived yesterday at Books 4 Brains, both by authors I've recently enjoyed)
"A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft, now in a deluxe collector's edition!
Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town. One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods.
As a genderqueer werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any town home. Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery."
"A year after her death in a burning barn, Dancy's Flammarion's now finds herself in a Hell of her own creation. A new evil haunts the sun-scorched back roads and ghost towns of the American South - murderous twins who command a legion of ghouls. Once again, Dancy must face down demons, those who walk the world unchallenged and those in her own shattered mind.
Collects The Good, the Bad, and the Bird #1-5"
Women Authors Whose Work I've Been Enjoying - Alice Oseman
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| Alice Oseman |
"Preamble. I like going to a local bookstore, Books4Brains. I always seem to buy something and of late I've been trying their collections of graphic novels. Many are YA but they have a nice variety. Anyway, in talking with the owner after purchasing the 3rd Vol of Lore Olympus, she also thought I might like this series, starting with Heartstopper: Volume One by Alice Oseman. It's a series that started on something called Web Toons, then moved to graphic novels and is now a series on Netflix. (pretty successful for a series that began in 2019.
With that preamble out of the way, this is a series that isn't in my normal wheel house. It's a YA series about a young fella, Charlie, in high school, who has come out as gay and is now in a budding relationship with another fella, Nick, who is in a higher year than Charlie.
It's a well-crafted story and drawn excellently. It's about any young person falling in love, dealing with rejection, growing up. In this case the people in the relationship just happen to be boys. I don't usually read YA romances but when they are told so well, it's an enjoyable read. Will I continue with the series? Well, I don't see why not. try it yourself. (4.0 stars)"
"I found the first Volume of Heartstopper by Alice Oseman interesting, even though it isn't my normal fare; being about gay high school students. But I decided to continue with the series as I wanted to discover what would happen next in the budding relationship between Nick and Charlie. Heartstopper: Volume Two was just as good or even better as Oseman really hit her stride with this Volume.
The story starts with Nick and Charlie sharing a kiss. Nick panics and runs off, leaving Charlie confused and hurt. This is kind of resolved as Nick realizes that he might also be into boys and that he really likes Charlie. The story that continues is the further development of this relationship. At first it's a secret relationship, as Nick sorts out feelings and tries to decide if he is gay or maybe bisexual. Slowly over the course of the story, they open up more to each other, close friends and family, and Nick comes to realize that his friends might not actually be the friends he thinks they are.
The story moves along nicely, the artwork is excellent and the characters draw you in. Most enjoyable 2nd story in this volume which is now up to 4 Volumes, with 5 due shortly. It's also a popular TV series. Well worth trying, even if it's not your normal genre. (4.0 stars)"
"I think I've said this before but, if I have or haven't, Heartstopper: Volume Three by Alice Oseman isn't my normal reading fare. I'm no longer a teenager, not gay, yada yada, but I have to say that it's an easy series to delve into and get hooked on. So there you go.
The first two Volumes dealt mainly with the budding relationship between Nick and Charlie, two teenage high school students. Charlie had previously come out as gay and spent a year at his school being harassed by other students. Coming to terms with it, he then found out he had a crush on a boy, Nick, who was a year older and a year higher in the school. Nick slowly discovers that he is bi and he also falls for Charlie. The first two volumes deal with this. In Volume three, we go on an end of year school trip to Paris.
We continue to follow the growing relationship between Nick and Charlie, whether they should come out to their friends (some people, including parents and family already know). As well we learn about some of Charlie's personal / mental struggles, the stresses in his life and how he tried to deal with them; self-harming, not eating, and Nicks efforts to discuss with Charlie and help him. The story also delves into relationships of their friends, letting them grow as characters (even amongst teachers...).
It's an excellent story, a look into the lives of these students and their relationships. I can't say I can relate to it; I think my teenage life was a bit more sheltered, or just different, I guess. But Alice Oseman presents the story in an engaging fashion. We see the characters' humanity, their emotions, their day-to-day actions with their friends and classmates. I may have to find Vol 4 at my local... (4.5 stars)"
"Heartstopper: Volume Four by Alice Oseman continues the story of the developing relationship between high school students, Nick and Charlie. Of course, there are highlights of other ongoing relationships as well.
Charlie is trying to decide the right time to tell Nick that he loves him, especially with Nick heading off on summer vacation with his family to Minorca. Charlie is stressing out; it's affecting his eating, his emotional well-being. Nick is very worried about Charlie's eating issues but doesn't know what to do about it.
There are family stresses, especially with Charlie's parents, mother especially. Nick wants Charlie to discuss Charlie's eating issues and emotional issues. But Charlie doesn't know how to approach his parents.
Once again it's an excellent story (and as I mention each and every volume, not one I normally read) and covers many topics while just providing an entertaining, fascinating story. As always, it's drawn very well and is very modern in its outlook and writing. It talks about empathy, love, friendships, family, mental health and draws you in. Volume 5 is supposed to come out in December. 😎 (4.0 stars)"
"Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. The bestselling LGBTQ+ graphic novel about life, love, and everything that happens in between: this is the fifth volume of the much-loved HEARTSTOPPER series.
Nick and Charlie are very much in love. They've finally said those three little words, and Charlie has almost persuaded his mum to let him sleep over at Nick's house ... But with Nick going off to university next year, is everything about to change?"
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